Snowflakes
by charlibubble
Summary: "We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand...and melting like a snowflake. Let us use it before it is too late" SANDLE - I know, I know... may the lord of GSR-ness cast me down to the fiery pits of hell!


_A/N: Yes, I did it. I actually wrote a Sandle. a proper Sandle and I urge you not to read on if that's not your thing! I entirely blame 'DearSweetPapercut' for this!  
><em>I would still rather like to hear your thoughts if you can bear to read on... ;-)

Charli x

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><p>A rare flurry of snowfall around Las Vegas brought the city to a standstill. It was unusual to experience such a cold snap let alone the heavy flakes that fluttered to the ground casting a magical awe over everything. All across the city people were finally taking time out of their busy schedules to stop and marvel at the phenomenon.<p>

Even Sara.

She stood on the front steps of the police department and watched as the snow fell. Her eyes focusing on single snowflakes as they fluttered and danced their way to the ground like a tiny ballerina. It was said that no two snowflakes were exactly alike, that every single snowflake that fell from the sky was unique, just like people. No two people could claim to be exactly alike, even twins had their own distinct differences.

She watched as two snowflakes danced around each other, waltzing in midair until they locked together and almost merged into an entirely new snowflake. A marriage of kind, much like she and Grissom had once enjoyed. She had considered him her soul mate. The one person in the entire population of the world that was created just for her, they were meant to fit together; they were meant to merge their souls and create something new.

Maybe it was naïve of her to think that with so many different variables, so many different people in the world that there would only be one person out there designed to fit with her. Only one person she could ever really feel whole with. It should really make being apart from him easy. The distance between them shouldn't matter if she was genuinely so assured of their compatibility. There could be a million miles between them, a thousand stars mapping the miles but she shouldn't feel such emptiness.

There was a hole, a deep gaping hole in her soul that she couldn't fill and it didn't matter how many drinks she threw down her throat in the bar with Greg or how many meals she shared with Nick. It didn't matter how many Skype calls she shared with her husband late into the twilight hours or how many weekend trips she made to Peru. He wasn't _there_. He wasn't waltzing with her in the snow; he wasn't brushing her hair out of her face and looking at her with those sparkling blue eyes. He wasn't there to discuss the latest case with or to hold her in the night when the nightmares came.

She wasn't whole without him; she was half of the snowflake she was supposed to be. Twirling around in the swirling winds lost and disorientated searching for something to adhere to.

"You'll catch your death out here, Sara"

Greg wrapped his jacket around her shoulders and tried to steer her back into the building but she resisted his pull. She wasn't finished watching the snow, there was something hypnotizing about it, something magical that pulled her in and opened her mind like the flames of a fire.

"Do you think it's true?" she asked in a monotone voice without looking round.

Greg's hand lingered on her arm. His grip loosening ever so slightly as he tried to fathom what was going on. He joined her staring into the middle distance, his expression one of total bewilderment that would have amused her if she wasn't in such an introspective mood.

"Do I think what's true? It's _really_ cold Sar, can we do this inside?"

"Do you think it's true that no two snowflakes are the same?"

He suspected it was a trick question, she could tell by the way he stared at her with a measured look of suspicion. Normally she probably would have been playing with him. Normally she would have been waiting for some sort of snarky comment but not today. Today she had dealt with more than her fair share of widowed wives and cheating husbands. Today she stood in the snow questioning the very fabric of her relationship. Today she needed him to answer her without a hint of sarcasm. She realized this would be a challenge for him but Greg was good at reading her mood. A lot better than Grissom even, he knew her better than anyone.

If she were to look at it logically Greg should really have been the one to waltz to the ground with her. They were a lot better balanced than she and Grissom ever were. While she and Grissom could spend hours and hours talking about everything, she and Greg could spend hours and hours talking about nothing.

"Why are you asking me about snowflakes?"

She looked at him for the first time, _really _looked at him. She had been trying hard not. She was afraid that if she looked at him properly that she might see something she didn't want to. Truth be told since coming back to Las Vegas on her own she had found herself radiating towards him a lot more and that scared her.

It didn't take long for their easy, flirty relationship to return. In a manner of weeks he was back to teasing her and dropping by at her condo with Chinese food at ridiculous times when he knew she would still be awake.

Just last night, a manner of hours ago he had been laid out on her living room floor while she casually threw cheeto's into his mouth from her position on the sofa. Horror movie marathons had become commonplace, it was as if he knew somehow when she was going to have nightmares and would magically appear on her doorstep. He would claim he had some kind of telepathy, he would smile that wide, genuine smile of his and tell her that she must have been thinking about him otherwise he would never have known she needed him. She would never admit he was right, not in a million years.

He had witnessed one of the now commonplace Skype arguments she had with Grissom. Like always, he had been scheduled to come home for a week. A whole week, it was just about the best news she had heard all month but of course Grissom being Grissom, something had come up. while she had sat accusing the computer screen of treating her like second prize Greg had scribbled on a little post it note and stuck it to his forehead as he lay on the floor awaiting her return.

"_always first prize to me"_

She had retaliated with a pillow to his face but the sentiment had made her smile. More than that, she knew he was telling the truth.

"I never thought about it before" she began, slipping her arm out of his hand and stepping across the snow covered parking lot "about how ridiculous the concept of soul mates is"

He followed her, without a second though he took off behind her into the snow. No coat and short sleeves, he was no doubt freezing. But still he followed her, that was more than Grissom had done.

"Sara, what on earth are you talking about?"

When she turned around his body almost collided with hers. She took a sharp intake of breath at the impact, her skin feeling cold in contrast to his although she recognized that he was probably cold enough. His jacket dropped to the ground, sliding from her wet shoulders and gathering at her feet.

She met his eye, something she had tried not to do; something she knew would open up a whole can of worms that she had worked hard at suppressing. There was an honesty in his eyes, he had never tried to hide his emotion from her and although there was a hesitancy reflecting back to her there was also desire. Her hands rested on his chest, she could feel his breath tremble with anticipation as what was left of the space between them became nothing but air.

Her lips brushed against his like a feather, he held his breath as though he was afraid she would vanish if he dared even breathe too loudly. He didn't make any effort to shy from her embrace, maybe he was shocked by her sudden need for affection but within seconds he was returning the sentiment with a soft kiss of his own. His lips danced on hers and her heart began to race. She wasn't even aware it was still capable of such things.

Sara marveled at the fact that this didn't feel wrong.

She was kissing another man, she was sinking into his arms and relishing the feel of his hands gently tracing the curve of her spine, her heart was beating so fast she could barely breathe and she knew that in that moment if he looked at her with those darkened lust filled eyes and asked her to go home with him she would do it.

While she tasted his lips and danced her tongue around his she couldn't begin to process the reactions her body had. She felt alive, for the first time in months. Her breath came out as a whimper as he pressed against her and they stumbled backwards clumsily falling against his car with a grunt.

"Sara…." He muttered without much conviction, his lips barely leaving hers as he fumbled with the door behind her. "Are you sure… about this?"

She pushed his away and looked into his eyes. She was surprised that he should be the one to have second thoughts about this, that he would be the one pondering guilt and vows and infertility. Surely that should be her job; surely it should be her soul being torn in two, being pulled in different directions. The fact remained that while she should have been feeling those things she didn't. as she stood there pressed against his Denali she wasn't wondering why she was doing this, she was wondering why it had took so long, she was wondering why his body wasn't pushed against her anymore, why her lips appeared to be void of his.

"I've never been more sure of anything in my entire life" she whispered into his ear in her very best throaty whisper. Her lips grazed the skin of his neck and suddenly he was alive with lust again, his hand finally opening the door and slipping her into the passenger seat.

As he stepped away to take the driver's seat she saw something that seemed so out of place in a parking lot in Las Vegas it was almost laughable. The snowfall swirled around forming what she suspected for a moment was a mirage, a hallucination while her mind was clearly suffering from some kind of a nervous breakdown. Yet her eyes met his across the space, she saw the hurt in them, the betrayal and the thought that she had caused it hurt almost as much as a dagger through the heart.

Grissom.

She should have run after him, she should have pleaded her case and fell at his feet but her body didn't cooperate; her brain had gone on strike. The only words she could come up with in the moment when it mattered was;

"I'm sorry"

But he was already gone.


End file.
